Create an Indoor Bonfire
Necessity was the mother of this invention too. On the day of our Summer Solstice ritual 2003, with 3 hours to go until our guest were to arrive and all the preparation made, the darkened skies opened up in a torrential summer down pour. Obviously the outdoor fire was out of the question, so this was our solution to create an indoor bonfire.
Supplies
Brown paint (acrylic is fine)
Paint brush (small will do, you won’t be painting a large area)
Black magic marker (medium to fine point)
Empty oatmeal container (or other tall cylindrical cardboard container)
Plastic bag (the kind you find in the produce aisle of the market)
Scissors
Oasis foam (can be found in craft stores or florists)
Fresh fire color flowers (reds, yellows, oranges)
Herbs of the summer solstice (St. John’s wort, vervain, etc)
Small cauldron (or other small, fireproof container)
Candle (to fit inside the cauldron)
Sticks for kindling (optional)
Logs for firewood (optional)
Directions
Cut a few 2x2 inch holes randomly around the sides of the oatmeal container at varying heights. Paint the outside of
the container solid brown and allow to dry.
Using the black marker, freehand craggy lines along the container to imitate bark. It doesn’t have to be perfect, much of it will not show once the flowers are in.
Line the container with the plastic bag, open end up.
Insert a block of Oasis foam into the plastic bag. Add more foam or remove as necessary in order to make the foam fill out the container.
Soak the foam according to the package directions and fit it back into the plastic bag.
Tug the plastic bag through the holes you cut in the oatmeal container just enough so you can snip the bag. The holes in the bag will allow you to insert the flower stems into the oasis foam which will keep them alive as if they were in a vase.
Trim the stems of your flowers to 4-5 inches and begin inserting them through the holes and into the foam. Start at the bottom with larger flowers like lilies, since fire appears more dense near the base.
Work your way to the top of the container, using smaller flowers and spriggy stems near the top to give the illusion of licking flames.
Fill in sparse areas with smaller blossoms and summer herbs.
Snip off any plastic that shows through the holes around the container. Twist the top of the bag to close it around the foam and tuck it in around the edges to hide it from view. Closing the bag will keep the foam saturated for a longer period.
Atop the foam, you should have a flat area to place your cauldron or other fireproof container. You may wish to add a few blossoms around the base of your container to hide the foam and to add a few more flames.
Since we had originally planned to have an outdoor fire, we had firewood and sticks for kindling on hand so we used them in the display of our indoor bonfire. If you like, you can place branches and sticks around the base of your indoor bonfire with flowers among the sticks to create a nice fire feel.
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